One Winter's Afternoon
by AHighAndLonesomeSound
Summary: One-shot written for TrisanaChandler13's Sensational Seasonal Song Quotes Challenge. Fluffy, friendship. Luna and Harry build a snowman and Harry gets some unexpected advice. Missing moment from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.


**One Winter's Afternoon**

_In the meadow we can build a snowman_

'Winter Wonderland' – Felix Bernard & Richard B. Smith

It was winter in Hogwarts. Harry Potter walked through the Entrance Hall and into the grounds. Christmas was coming and soon most of the students would depart to spend the holidays with their families. Most years, he spent Christmas at the school with Ron and Hermione. However, this would be the second year in a row that he spent Christmas at the Burrow with the Weasleys. Harry couldn't help but hope that it was a whole lot better than last year, when he – along with Ron, Ginny and the twins – had been pulled out of school early because Nagini had attacked Ron's father.

Harry sighed. While his sixth year had so far been vision-free and Voldemort hadn't attacked any Order members (that he knew of), term hadn't ended yet and the holidays were already off to a bad start, which was the reason he was going for a solitary walk. Hermione and Ron were having a fight. Again. This time, however, it seemed more serious than usual, and that was probably understandable as the cause of their fight was Ron's relationship with Lavender, or more realistically – although Harry would never say this to their faces – the root of the problem was their own unspoken feelings for each other.

Speaking of unspoken feelings, there was the problem of Ginny and the way Harry had felt towards her lately. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. _She's Ron's sister_, he told himself sternly, _your best friend's sister, so stay away_.

He was jolted out of his reverie by the sound of laughter ahead. A group of first-years were having a snowball fight, and he was reminded irresistibly of his first year, when the twins had charmed snowballs to follow Quirrell wherever he went, bouncing off his turban. He chuckled at the thought that they had effectively been throwing snowballs at Voldemort. But thinking of Voldemort brought darker thoughts to mind; the path he had to walk, the prophecy, Sirius' death…

Looking around for something to distract him from this train of thought, he saw Luna in the distance and wandered over. Dressed in a big blue winter coat, a red scarf and a rainbow-striped woollen hat with a bright orange bobble (the overall effect was garish, to say the least), she was rolling an enormous ball of snow along the ground, but stopped when she saw him approach.

"Hi Harry," she said, looking at him curiously, "you look distracted, is something bothering you?"

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired," he lied. He didn't want to talk to anyone about this stuff, not at the moment.

Luna looked at him for a second, and then smiled.

"That's alright then. I'm building a snowman, would you like to help?"

Harry shrugged.

"I've never actually made a snowman before; it could be fun."

"Never?" asked Luna, surprised.

"Well… the Dursleys didn't really like me having fun," he replied shortly.

She looked at him with an odd expression for a moment, and Harry wondered if he had been too rude, but then she brightened up.

"Oh. That's a shame. Here, I'll show you what to do!"

She took his hand and pulled him over to a thick mound of snow.

"We'll start rolling our second ball here. It's for the torso, so it'll need to be slightly smaller. And be careful: there might be Venomous Snowbats around."

Harry considered asking what Venomous Snowbats were, but thought the better of it. Instead, he set to work rolling up a big snowball. Despite the cold weather he was soon warm from the exercise. After several failed attempts to lift the torso onto the base by hand, the two of them ended up slipping and falling face-first into the snow. Luna giggled, and Harry grinned back: his first smile of the day, as she rolled over onto her back and started waggling her arms, making a slightly deformed snow angel. He got to his feet and cast a Levitating Charm on the torso, placing it on the base. Luna jumped up, her usually pale face flushed.

"Time for the head now!" she said, bending over and rolling up a smaller snowball.

Harry began looking around to see if he could spot any berries or twigs that could be used for the snowman's features, and therefore was somewhat surprised when a snowball connected with his back. He spun round and Luna grinned at him.

"Constant vigilance!" she barked, in a passable imitation of the false Moody that had taught them two years previously.

"Well done," he replied, "but watch your back from now on!"

She quickly rolled two more snowballs, and Harry dodged behind a tree to make a few of his own.

Half an hour later, the two of them were covered in bits of snow and the snowman still didn't have a head. Out of breath, they had declared a truce and were sitting with their backs against the tree trunk.

"That was _fun_," gasped Luna.

Harry nodded, too breathless to speak. He was perfectly content to just sit and rest for a few minutes but before he had fully got his second wind, Luna jumped up and began making a head. By the time he had struggled to his feet, she had put it on the body and was looking for a way to give the snowman a face. He snapped a couple of twigs off a low-hanging branch and gave the snowman arms. Meanwhile, Luna had found some pebbles and used them to make eyes, a mouth and buttons.

"There," she said, standing back, "it's done."

"Not yet," he grinned, swiping her hat and putting it on the snowman's head, "_now_ it's done."

Luna laughed.

"Feeling better then, Harry?"

He was. Luna always managed to cheer him up, even if she was completely and utterly bonkers.

"Thanks for letting me help with your snowman."

"It's _our_ snowman, Harry," she replied, giving him a quick squeeze.

He smiled, took her hat off the snowman and gave it back to her.

"I'd better get back to the castle; it's getting late and I need to make sure Ron and Hermione haven't killed each other yet."

"Another row? Ronald can say some unkind things, but they are rather good friends."

Harry sighed, "And that's the problem. I think they kind of fancy each other, but they can't bring themselves to admit it."

Luna's eyes widened.

"That… does make some sense. I'd never really noticed it, but yes. Maybe that's why he's so hard on her. Boys can be silly like that, they're not very good at talking about their feelings sometimes" she replied, looking at him owlishly from under her hat.

Harry didn't respond. He felt uncomfortably as though that last remark had been aimed as much at him as at the absent Ron.

They walked in companionable silence to the Entrance Hall, where Luna turned towards the doors for the Great Hall.

"I want to see if there's any pudding, Harry, so I'll see you later. Good luck with Ronald and Hermione!"

Harry gave her a wave.

"Thanks again, Luna. That was a fun afternoon."

She smiled, and skipped over to the doorway, radish earrings bouncing all the way. Harry was halfway to the stairs when he heard her voice again.

"Harry…?"

He looked back over his shoulder at Luna, standing in the half-open door.

"Ginny Weasley is a very nice girl. She has always been kind to me, and I'm sure she likes you."

With that, she disappeared through the door and Harry was left to ponder whether or not his crush was that obvious.

**A/N: OK, so this was written for TrisanaChandler13's ****Sensational Seasonal Song Quotes! (Challenge). The season I picked was winter, and the song quote I got is the one at the top of this fic. It's just a fluffy little missing moment from HBP, I hope you enjoy it!**


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